Promises Left Broken
by MakorraLove97
Summary: Before leaving, Toph promises her thirteen year old daughter she would return and train with her, even promising to take her to one of the greatest cities in the world, but when Aang gets a call, everything changes. Years later Lin visits her mother's grave, still grieving and trying to cope with the fact her mother is gone and how their promises are left broken. *Implied Tenzlin!*


**Hi guys, how are you? So, this is a one-shot I randomly decided to write during my Graphic Design class when we weren't doing anything, so, here it is! Hopefully you like it! :)**

_**Please let me know what you think of it, that would be so amazing and I would greatly appreciate it, thank you!**_

**I OWN NOTHING; I DO NOT OWN AVATAR: THE LEGEND OF KORRA.**

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"_Promises Left Broken_"

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"Lin! I'm leaving now for work!" Toph yells as she swings the door open. Toph Beifong is dressed in her usual work uniform and her hair is up just like she wore it when she was a kid. She is all ready to leave the house and go off to work, but Lin yells out her name, stopping her in her tracks.

"Wait!" Thirteen-year-old Lin yells as she runs into the room and straight to the front door. Toph places her hands on her hips and raises her eyebrow at her, "Yes, Linny?"

Lin folds her arms across her chest and frowns, "You promised you would work on my earthbending training with me before you left. You're not supposed to leave for another hour."

Toph sighs and gives her daughter a sad smile, "I know I did, Lin. I'm sorry, but they

called me in saying they needed me."

The young earthbender rolls her emerald color eyes and looks away from her mother, clearly annoyed and upset at the situation. "You promised." She whispers and then glares up at Toph, "You're the Chief, aren't you the one who is supposed to make the rules? Since when did you start taking orders?"

"Lin, that's enough!" Toph snaps, pitching the bridge of her nose, "First things first, I do _not_ take orders from anyone. I never did and most likely never will." The Blind Earthbender grins as she says that, remembering how she never took orders from _anyone_, not even the Avatar; Aang "Second, Lin, I know I promised you, but I promise you that as soon as I come back from work tonight I'll train with you. How does that sound?"

"I just feel like you're too busy all the time..." Lin whispers, still looking down at the floor.

Toph looks away, completely understanding how her daughter feels. When she was a child, around Lin's age now, she felt the same way towards her own parents. They were always too busy for her and always had servants taking care of her; she never got affection from her own parents. They always pictured her as helpless and deep down, Toph knew her parents were disappointed because they wanted a strong daughter and instead, they received a helpless, defenseless daughter, in their eyes.

"Lin," Toph begins as she kneels down so she is her daughter's height, "I understand exactly how you feel, but it's just the two of us. I need to work and support us, so, as much as I would love to spend some time with you and brush you up on your training, I need to go to work. They need me when they need me and you know better than anyone how much I love my work."

"Yeah, but you're friends the Avatar, Uncle Aang, and Aunt Katara…" Lin pouts as she looks away from Toph and frowns.

Toph shakes her head, a small grin forming on her lips, "Lin, as much as I love Twinkle-Toes and Sugar-Queen, I don't need or want them supporting us. I could easily manage on my own without their help. I'm not dependent on anyone, you know that. Now, I really have to go."

"But, mom-" Lin tries, but Toph puts up her hand, cutting her off with a firm voice, "Now, that's enough, Lin." She sighs as she watches Lin's facial expression drop, an upset look crosses her features, "Listen, your Uncle Aang should be heading over very soon with Tenzin, okay? Don't open the door unless it's them, is that understood?"

"Yeah…" She says, keeping her eyes locked with the floor as she slowly nods her head.

Toph stares down at her daughter and sighs, wrapping her arms around her daughter, but Lin doesn't return the hug. Toph pulls away and places her hands on her hips, "Lin, just please and try to understand? I promise you as soon as I come back the first thing we'll do is train. I'll even take tomorrow off to train with you, how does that sound?"

"You promise?" Lin asks in a whisper as she slowly looks up at her mother. Toph smiles down at her and nods her head, "I promise. After today, for the rest of the week it'll just be the two of us. I know I've been working a lot, but this week I'll even take you to Ba Sing Se! We'll spend some time together; just the two of us. You have my word."

Toph knows how it is to feel like your parents are always too busy for you and she doesn't want that for Lin. She already doesn't have a father… she needs her mother around; she needs to spend some quality time with her; something they haven't done in a while now.

Lin smiles and nods her head excitedly, "Sounds good to me!"

"Alright, good!" Toph grins, "I'll see ya' later, Kiddo, I promise." Lin wraps her arms around Toph, squeezing her into a tight hug. Toph kisses the top of her head and then with that, she heads out the door, glancing back over her shoulder, despite how she can't see, to just look back at her daughter before shutting the door behind her.

**. . .**

Lin and Tenzin are outside sparring with each other; earth against air. Lin, obviously, has an advantage over Tenzin, but being the Avatar's son, he wasn't giving up without a fight. However, Lin, being the daughter of the world's greatest earthbender, she wasn't giving up until she won this sparring match.

Tenzin shakes his head, grinning at her, "I think you need to brush up on your earthbending training!"

She knew he was teasing her, but she also knew it was true. She's been training on her own, but it's much easier when there is a teacher guiding you through the training. She just rolls her eyes at him, grinning, "Oh please, says the one who is _losing_."

Avatar Aang watches the two of them, his arms folded across his chest as a small smile rests on his lips. Lin is so much like her mother, it's kind of scary. He shakes his head as he watches them and then he hears the phone from inside ring. He turns around and heads inside, straight for the phone and answering it.

Tenzin presses his wrists together and opens his hands wide, blasting a burst of air right towards Lin's direction. Lin smirks at him and lifts her foot up, creating a large boulder to shield her.

The two of them continue to go at it until they hear Aang cry out in shock and they see the phone drop right out of his hand.

Both, Lin and Tenzin, turn to face one another with worried expressions on their faces and they slowly head back inside to see what's wrong.

Lin walks right up to Aang and slightly cocks her head to the side as she folds her arms across her chest, "What's wrong, Uncle Aang?"

Fear is looming in his eyes and a shocked and terrified look is across his face. They could see the worry and sadness swimming through his eyes and they know something definitely happened.

"Dad?" Tenzin quietly asks, looking up at his father with a concerned and serious look. "Is everything all right?"

Aang closes his eyes slowly and looks away, obviously trying to hold in whatever he is feeling and hide the emotions that are exposing themselves on his face. When he realizes the two kids are still waiting for a response from him, he takes in a deep breath, slowly opens his eyes, and kneels down in front of them.

He places one hand on Lin's shoulder and the other on Tenzin's, looking at Lin straight in the eyes. Lin shakes her head, something isn't right and she has a feeling he is going to give _her_ bad news.

Lin is smart enough to know what that look means and she could easily spot the haunted look in his eyes. She swallows and could feel the tears already starting to form in her eyes, "Don't say it…"

"Lin… I'm so, so sorry. They preferred if I was the one to tell you." Aang's voice is shaky and Lin could feel the silent tear stream down her cheek. "A bit earlier today your mother was fighting this gang. They were destroying the entire downtown part of the City and her and her officers went to go put a stop to it. There were two gangs fighting each other apparently and it was… bad. They were using their bending and weapons and your mother got in the middle, along with her officers. One man ended up knocking her down with their waterbending and then she got hit with one of the knives someone was carrying."

"What are you saying, Father?" Tenzin asks quietly, his eyes wide, already knowing the answer his father is about to give.

Lin shakes her head, backing away slowly, "No! I know what you're gonna say and it's not true! I know my mother, she promised me she would be back soon! She promised she would come back and take me to Ba Sing Se and train with me!" She clenches her jaw, looking away, "I know my mother… she's stronger than you think! She'll be walking through that door any second."

"Lin, I'm so sorry-" Aang tries, but she stops him, yelling, "No! You just don't understand! You don't know my mother like I do. She's the world's greatest earthbender!"

"Lin, I've known her since I was twelve-years-old… believe me, I understand how strong she is, but… Lin, she's gone." Aang's eyes are teary and his voice is shaky; Toph was one of his closest friends and now she's gone…

"I don't care what you or anyone else says, I know she'll be back. She never once broke a promise to me! When she gives you her word, she means it and she will do whatever she can to make sure she fulfills it." Lin says through clenched teeth, "She can't be gone. She's not!" She closes her eyes as tears escape and slide down her cheeks. She shakes her head and runs straight to her room, slamming the door shut and locking it.

Aang goes to talk to her, but Tenzin stops him, shaking his head, "Allow me to go talk to her… please?" Aang looks at the direction she ran in and then back at his son. He sighs and nods his head. Tenzin nods and then races down the hall and straight to Lin's room.

Tenzin knocks on the door gently, but he receives no answer. He knocks again, but this time receives a yell from Lin through the door, "Go away, Uncle Aang!"

Tenzin shakes his head and knocks again. This time, Lin swings the door open and glares, "What do you want-" She stops when she notices it's Tenzin and not Aang, "Oh… Tenzin."

"Can I come in?" He asks softly and she hesitates at first, but then steps aside, allowing him inside. She shuts the door behind them and walks over to her bed, crawling onto it and curling up in a small, fragile ball.

She cries into her knees and Tenzin slowly walks over to her, saying nothing, but gently collecting Lin into his arms and holding her tightly as she sobs into his chest, gripping him tightly.

**. . .**

It's been a few years now and Lin's all grown up and the Chief of Police. She took over her mother's job, making sure she did the job just like her mother, but she knew she was probably worse than her mother. She was stricter and tougher, but it was necessary to make sure the officers knew who was boss.

Her mother's been gone for so long and Lin misses her every single day. She still can't cope with the fact that her mother is gone forever, but she is doing better. She was thirteen when she lost her mother and since she didn't have a father, Sokka and Suki took in her, since Aang and Katara had three children of their own.

Chief Lin Beifong walks up the small hill until she reaches the top. When she does, her eyes scan across the empty top that is covered in grass and has one single tree in the center.

She slowly walks over to the tree and kneels down by the small tombstone she has resting under the large tree. The sun shines down, hitting her and making the haunted and troubled look shine in her eyes. The heat from the sun warms her skin from the outside, but deep down, she feels cold and lonely.

Lin places her hand on the grey tombstone and sighs, closing her eyes slowly. "I miss you so much, mother." She could feel her eyes starting to burn as the tears begin to form, threatening to spill at any second. She could feel her body shaking as it desperately wants her to break down and sob. Her voice is shaky and is nothing more than a whisper. "Mom, I miss you. What happened all those years ago? You left promising me the world and then you never come back. You promised me you would come back and spend time with me… you would train with me and even take me to one of the greatest cities in the world. Mom… what ever happened to you? You leave and then never come back? It's not your fault, but… why did you have to leave? After all these years I just still don't understand."

She sighs, "You would still be here if you would have stayed with me. You were a good person… trying to help out the City and this is what you get? You were taken from me! You… you broke the promise you made to me. You gave me your word you would come back… you didn't. You could never fulfill this promise, mom. I… I don't know what to do without you." She feels the silent tears streaming down her cheeks and falling onto the floor, "I wanted to do so much with you… I was so young when you were taken from me and even as an adult now… I still need my mother. I still need you."

Lin runs her hand through her short, grey hair. Her grey eyes open to stare down hard at the tombstone, "You probably wonder where I got this scar on my face from… You see, when you died, I promised myself I would find out who was responsible for it, considering the man who did this to you got away. I ended up finding him… we fought and he almost took me down… just like he took you. The thing is, I guess he doesn't know what happens when you mess with _the_ Toph Beifong's daughter, huh? The old war hero's daughter definitely knows how to take down a stupid punk like him and I almost lost all control inside of me. Tenzin stopped me just in time… but I don't feel any closure. Even with that man behind bars, you're still not here."

Lin may be strong and may be her mother's daughter, but after this tragic lost, this is the one thing that could easily knock her down and break her apart.

"I love you, mom… I love you so much and I wish you were here so I could tell you how much I love you and show you how much I miss you." She buries her face in her hands and sobs, her body trembling as she breaks down and cries.

She doesn't know how long she's been like that, but all she knows is that the moon rises in the midnight black sky and the chilly weather of night takes over the heat the sun once gave earlier before.

She must have fallen asleep by her mother's tombstone, but she feels numb and empty. Her eyes are red and puffy from crying and her cheeks are stained with dried tears. As she sits up slowly, sighing as she closes her eyes, she feels a gentle hand rest on her shoulder.

Lin knows exactly who the hand belongs to and the corners of her lips twitches up into a small, barely visible, smile. She turns her head slightly to look up at the man standing behind her, offering her a kind, sad smile.

Tenzin keeps his hand there and she looks back at her mother's tomb. She may always have an empty part inside of her, but she knows Tenzin has always been and always will be there for her.

She slowly closes her eyes and lets out a sigh, letting her own hand rest on top of his hand that is on her shoulder and she softly smiles to herself when could even feel her own mother's hand resting on her other shoulder.

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**Okay and that's the end of this one-shot. I really hope you liked it! I wanted to write a story of Toph and Lin's relationship and I know that they never mentioned how Toph died and how old Lin was, so, here's my story of it.**

_**Please leave a comment/review and let me know what you think of it, that would mean so much to me, thank you!**_

**Thanks for reading! ^_^**


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